EXODUS

Brokers Abandon Wall Street

In a down market, being a broker is being broke.

A trickle has turned into a flood: Brokers are bolting from Wall Street in record numbers as slumping markets have investors turning away from stocks that produce high commissions. At the current rate, about 35,000 brokers will leave the industry by the end of the year, leaving about 630,000 behind. Brokers are often paid a percentage of the clients’ assets they manage—which tumbled with the markets last year. Investors have also turned to money market or insured deposit accounts for safety, neither of which pay much in commission. The cadre of brokers who make more than $1 million in fees are still in hot demand at firms like UBS and Bank of America, The Wall Street Journal reports.